At this moment, she looked just like an overbearing CEO making an entrance, flanked by bodyguards standing at attention on either side, exuding an absolute aura of authority.
Yet, she was no overbearing CEO after all, and her walk was filled with trepidation. As she walked, she nodded and thanked the brothers on both sides to ease this strange sense of oppression.
Song Xinxin leaned over the van and searched for a while, managing to find Li Xuan's bag in the gap, but not her own.
Having been unconscious for a time, she had no memory of it, so as for her phone... she truly had no idea where it might have dropped.
Never mind, finding one of them was already a good thing, Song Xinxin comforted herself, then ran over to Li Xuan and handed the bag to the still-starstruck Li Xuan. "I found your bag. Check and see if anything is missing."
Li Xuan took the bag and briefly looked through it. "Everything is in here." She immediately took out her phone from the bag, looked at Meng Qingyan with a smile, and said, "Handsome, let's add each other on WeChat!"
Meng Qingyan had originally only intended to add Song Xinxin as a contact, but now it was Li Xuan asking, and he hesitated on how to refuse. At that moment, his assistant ran over. "Boss, all the men have been secured. How should we handle them?"
Meng Qingyan looked at Song Qingyan—*correction:* looked at Song Xinxin and asked, "What do you think? After all, you two are the ones who were kidnapped!"
"Of course we should send them to the police station and thoroughly investigate who instigated this from behind the scenes." Song Xinxin had not seen Yuan Lai in the van, and she could be certain that although this matter was related to Yuan Lai, he was not the mastermind. Besides, with Yuan Lai's resources, he likely couldn't afford to hire petty thugs like these.
"Alright, then we'll do as you say." Meng Qingyan nodded with a smile, seeming very satisfied with Song Xinxin's answer.
"No, I don't think we should call the police," Li Xuan interrupted, raising an objection.
"Why?" Song Xinxin asked, puzzled.
"Think about who we are. If people find out we were kidnapped, how bad would that look once it gets out? It will affect our future work and lives. Besides, both of us saw Yuan Lai spray us with the knockout drug; if the police investigate, I'm afraid the entire school will be implicated." Li Xuan laid out her reasoning.
Li Xuan's perspective wasn't wrong either. Putting the bigger picture first, Song Xinxin wasn't wrong either—evildoers deserved severe punishment. Yet with neither side in the wrong, what on earth should they do?
Listening to the two of them, Meng Qingyan already understood their respective stances. Li Xuan took the long view, analyzing the pros and cons from a broader perspective to make her judgment; prioritizing the bigger picture wasn't wrong, but doing so would also leave the interests of certain individuals compromised.
Song Xinxin belonged to the type who sought immediate payback and settled scores on the spot. Although she only looked for temporary gratification without regard for the consequences she might have to bear in the future, while it could solve the immediate problem, it might lead to many, many more problems down the line.
The two of them thought at different elevations. Li Xuan stood from a leader's position, taking peace, stability, and development as her primary tasks; whereas Song Xinxin stood from an ordinary person's position, taking the resolution of conflict as her primary principle.
"How about this, we are all people of the underworld, so let's handle this the underworld way. You ladies don't need to worry about it, and as for who is behind him, I'll help you find out." Meng Qingyan could only come up with this compromise.He used to be the kind of person who would act on impulse and seek revenge for any grievance, but he knew from experience that seeking immediate revenge often brought a cascade of complicated aftermaths that took forever to untangle. Deep down, therefore, he actually agreed with Li Xuan's reasoning. If this matter were really handed over to the police, Song Xinxin would undoubtedly be taken to the station to assist with the investigation, and even he would have to cooperate, which would be a tremendous hassle to deal with.
"If that's the case, I have no objections." After listening to Li Xuan's analysis, Song Xinxin realized she had acted too impulsively. Hearing Meng Qingyan's words next, she naturally concluded there was no better option.
Li Xuan nodded in agreement as well. "It's so wonderful to have your help!"
Faced with Li Xuan's uncharacteristic display of friendliness, Meng Qingyan was visibly unaccustomed to it.
He walked over, gave a few instructions to his assistant, and then returned to their side. "Are you heading back to school? Shall I give you a lift?"
"Okay," Song Xinxin agreed.
"No, I have to go back to the crew." Li Xuan suddenly remembered that she needed to rush back to the film crew tonight. She turned to Meng Qingyan with a smile and said, "Handsome, would you mind dropping me off at the Film and Television City first?"
"Right, I almost forgot. Hoodlum Bro, could you do me a favor and take my bestie to the Film and Television City?" Song Xinxin chimed in.
Hearing her call him "bro"—even with the word "hoodlum" prefixed to it—didn't bother him in the slightest. In fact, he felt a secret thrill of amusement inside. However, the person he had wanted to drive home all along was Song Xinxin, not Li Xuan. Meng Qingyan looked at the two women standing before him and remained silent.
Not far away, the assistant found it quite amusing to watch Meng Qingyan surrounded by two women. He thought to himself, "President Meng never used to have any girls around him at all; I actually thought he was completely ascetic. Who would have thought that when they finally show up, two come at once, and it looks like both of them are quite keen on our President Meng."
"Xiaobai, come here. Drive this young lady over to the Film and Television City..." Meng Qingyan called out to his assistant, deliberately omitting Li Xuan's name and referring to her simply as "this young lady." His intention was crystal clear: his real target was Song Xinxin.
Hearing the call, Assistant Bai trotted over. "Got it, Brother Yan."
Assistant Bai acknowledged the order and gestured for Li Xuan to accompany him. "This young lady, please right this way!"
Li Xuan felt a little unhappy inside. She had already made her intentions so clear, yet he was pretending not to understand. Still, since he had put it that way, there was nothing she could do. She simply muttered a word of thanks and followed Assistant Bai away—after all, hailing a taxi out here in the suburbs was far too much of a hassle.
Once Li Xuan and Assistant Bai had left, Meng Qingyan turned to Song Xinxin and said, "There were too many people in the car and it felt a bit crowded. How about I walk with you for a bit? Once we reach the subway station, I'll ride the subway with you and see you safely back."
"Okay, but I don't have any cash or my phone on me... for the ticket... so I'll have to trouble you..." Song Xinxin said with a hint of embarrassment. As she spoke, she gently tugged at the corner of Meng Qingyan's jacket with both hands and gave it a soft shake.
This was the first time in his adult life that a girl had acted spoiled in front of him, and he couldn't help finding it utterly comical. The very same brazen woman who had once dragged him into a restroom stall, stripped off his clothes, and bolted away with him while completely abandoning all regard for her image was actually capable of acting cute.
Not only were her physical gestures affected and coy, but even her voice had changed. It suddenly sounded so soft and sweet that it gave him goosebumps all over.
Meng Qingyan couldn't help laughing. "Don't worry, I'll pay!"
At Meng Qingyan's reply, Song Xinxin instantly snapped back to her normal self and said with a smile, "As soon as I get back to school, I'll transfer the money to you right away!"She turned her head with a miserable expression. With her resources exhausted and not a penny to her name, taking even a single step forward was indeed impossible. Fortunately, she was an acting major; acting cute came as naturally to her as breathing, yet she still felt it might be a bit too much. Song Xinxin thought this and let out a silent sigh.
You had to be tough when it called for toughness, and weak when it called for weakness. When shamelessness was required, you had to be shameless—the cheeky child got the candy.
"No rush!" Meng Qingyan smiled like a child whose plot had succeeded. He walked over, gave some instructions to his remaining subordinates, and one by one, they got into their cars and drove off.
They looked like well-trained soldiers, moving without the slightest trace of chaos. Very soon, the vehicles started up, one car after another, and just like that, they were gone.
Within moments, only Meng Qingyan and Song Xinxin were left behind.
"Let's go? Follow this path and it'll lead right out to the main road." Meng Qingyan pointed straight down the end of the road with a completely straight face.
He had originally intended to drive Song Xinxin back to school by himself, but he hadn't expected Li Xuan to need to return to the Film and Television City. With no other choice, he had to have Assistant Bai drive his car to take Li Xuan back, while he himself didn't want to let Song Xinxin cram into a car with so many men. After giving it some thought, taking the subway back to school was the only option left.
Taking the subway back to school wasn't a bad idea either; it meant he could spend a little longer with Song Xinxin. The more time they had, the better he could understand her preferences and what kind of person she was.
Song Xinxin was more than happy to follow him, and the two of them walked side by side toward the end of the road.
"Did you lose your phone?" They hadn't even walked two steps before Meng Qingyan couldn't hold it in any longer.
Song Xinxin nodded as she replied, "I can't find it for now, or maybe I left it at school. I remember I was still holding it in my hand before I was knocked out."
"It was that guy named Yuan Lai who knocked you out. I heard your friend say so just now."
"That's right..." At the mention of Yuan Lai, Song Xinxin let out an inexplicable sigh. This man had murdered her in her past life, and in this life, he had drugged her and handed her over to Hoodlum Bro—he was utterly detestable.
Seeing her sigh and wear a worried expression, Meng Qingyan figured this Yuan Lai must have some sort of history with her. He spoke up, "Do you want me to teach him a lesson? You know, I run in these circles; fighting and brawling happen all the time!"
"No need..." Song Xinxin cut him off flatly. She had her own plans in mind; teaching Yuan Lai a lesson didn't require borrowing someone else's hands.
A trace of displeasure surfaced on Meng Qingyan's face upon hearing this. "May I ask what kind of relationship you have with him?"
"He and I might have been a couple before, but now we have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and we won't have anything to do with each other in the future either. At the very least, my life and death will never be tangled up with this person again. If we are truly destined to have some connection, I hope—it's that he dies by my hands..." Song Xinxin said this with a feigned casualness. Especially with that final sentence, the moment she finished speaking, she could no longer keep up her composure and burst out laughing.
In her past life, she had been burned to death by him; in this life, even if the absolute worst-case scenario came to pass, she wanted to be the one to turn the tables. She refused to forever be the one who closed her eyes in lifelong regret.
Meng Qingyan was completely baffled by her words; he simply couldn't understand how a twenty-year-old girl, right in the flower of her youth, could say such things and casually toss around words of life and death. Shouldn't death be something very distant for someone her age? Just what had she been through? She showed him an optimism that didn't belong to her years, alongside a sorrow that equally didn't belong to them.
"It's best that you have nothing to do with him! A piece of trash like that—the farther you stay from him, the better." From the moment Song Xinxin mentioned they had been a couple, Meng Qingyan had felt a twinge of annoyance, but he couldn't let it show on his face, let alone voice it out loud.
To Song Xinxin, he was merely a stranger she had met twice, but to him, Song Xinxin might well be the savior he had spent half a year searching for. If possible, he hoped to be a part of her future.
"My friend, you've got it all wrong! They say villains meet their match; a villain like him naturally deserves a villain like me to grind him down. If I stay too far away from him, what if he goes out to victimize other people? As for me, I'm going to stay neither too close nor too far—on one hand, to keep him in check, and on the other, to make sure he doesn't get the chance to prey on anyone else." Song Xinxin spoke with an air of triumph, as if this were an immensely meaningful endeavor, just like the Monkey King fighting demons—acting on behalf of justice and light.
Song Xinxin's words always caught Meng Qingyan off guard. He couldn't help wondering what kind of girl she really was. The things she said were always so impractical, yet somehow, he found her impractical notions rather interesting.
Meng Qingyan shook his head. Perhaps it was simply a generational gap, or a difference in their zodiac signs?
Meanwhile, in Assistant Bai's car, Li Xuan was pumping Assistant Bai for information about Meng Qingyan. Assistant Bai was tight-lipped indeed; no matter how Li Xuan pried, he never revealed Meng Qingyan's name, family background, or social standing.
Whenever she asked what they did for a living, he would just say they ran the Nancheng area. When she asked what Meng Qingyan liked, what he hated, what he loved to eat and drink, and what kind of women he preferred...
Assistant Bai was driving with one hand while making it all up on the spot, praying inwardly, "President Meng, you're the one who ordered this! You can't let me expose your identity, so I'm only making this up because I have no other choice. If you find out, please don't blame me!"
Just like that, Assistant Bai endured a harrowing ride all the way as he dropped Li Xuan off at the Film and Television City.
Back to Meng Qingyan and Song Xinxin. Amidst their casual, off-and-on banter, time flew by, and soon enough, they were back at the school.
"Which reminds me, how did you know I studied here?" Song Xinxin asked, puzzled. "And how did you know I was kidnapped?"
"That?" Meng Qingyan thought for a moment and pulled Song Xinxin's actor's ID card from his pocket. "Didn't I wear your clothes and take your handbag that day? There was an actor's ID inside the bag, so I followed the name on it to find your school. When I got here, I found out you weren't on campus, and someone mentioned seeing you being forced into a van, so I got my brothers to help me track you down."
"Thank goodness for you, otherwise I don't know what I would have faced tonight?" Thinking back to the kidnapping, Song Xinxin still felt a lingering sense of dread.
Her own capabilities were still far too weak; she simply had no way of handling a situation like that. Today had been pure luck. Even if they had managed to escape from that van, faced with an unfamiliar environment, they likely would have been recaptured. Therefore, she had to make herself stronger—much stronger.
"Don't worry. I run this turf. If anything happens, just look for me." Meng Qingyan didn't want to see the worried look on her face.
"Well, following that logic, shouldn't I be paying you protection money?"